Putting Ties to Good Use
by lilyandjames2790
Summary: R/Hr While getting ready for the 7th years ball, Hermione shows Ron why ties aren't just a nuisance. Oneshot Enjoy!


**Putting Ties to Good Use**

(A/N) I checked my stats here, something I haven't done in a very long time and found 1075 hits on Of Broomsticks and Bettings. That may not be a lot for some authors, but it was highly exciting for me. And so I decided to write another one-shot. For the record, yes One Month to Change Your Life is still in progress. I have no plans to abandon the fic. My laptop kinda ate ¾ of Chapter 5 and I found it difficult to find the motivation to rewrite it, but it is almost completed and with any luck it will be up shortly. And now on with the one-shot! Enjoy!

Also, this is a 7th year fic that doesn't take DH into account, or necessarily HBP either because they are all still at Hogwarts.

Disclaimer: I am me, and therefore not J. K. Rowling and therefore I do not own the Harry Potter series or any characters it contains.

Ties.

"Really, 'Mione, what's the point of them?" I pondered aloud, sighing as I watched my muggleborn friend tie the noose-like piece of fabric around my neck.

"Ron, if you had taken up Muggle Studies like I had, you would know that muggles wear them when they want to look nice," she replied, stepping back to observe her handiwork once she finished tying the tie.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not a muggle," I stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, in case _you_ hadn't noticed, the 7th years' ball is muggle-themed this year. That means," she paused to hold to my face the emerald piece of fabric now hanging from my neck, "ties."

Ah, yes. The 7th years' ball. A bloody stupid idea if you ask me, but at least it had the potential to be better than the Yule Ball. After all of these years, I had finally plucked up the courage and maturity to ask Hermione to go with me.

I know, Ron? Mature? Shocker.

Don't get too excited though, she thinks I just want to go as mates. Eugh. Mates. I guess that's all we'll ever be at this rate…

With a suddenly faster pace to my heartbeat I noticed that Hermione had stepped forward so that she was once more only a few inches from me. The blasted tie again. It was apparently crooked. I couldn't really care much less about it. It was too much of a hassle having to wear the blasted thing anyways.

Though, then again, if it gives me the excuse to be this close to 'Mione without getting slapped, then I suppose ties couldn't be all bad.

With her eyes fixated on the knot around my neck, I had free reign to study how extraordinarily beautiful she had made herself in honor of the dance. She wore a deep green dress, thin straps with a silver ornament right in the center of the top of the dress…er…not that I was looking there…

Anyways, It fit her perfectly and fell to her knees where it flared out just slightly. Her hair looked very nice, with half of it pulled back into a neat bun and the rest falling softly in light waves, framing her face perfectly. She was easily the most gorgeous thing I had ever laid eyes on.

"Hermione, you…" I cleared my throat nervously and shoved my hands in my pockets, "you…er… look lovely."

She looked up at me with a slightly bemused expression; as though she could hardly believe those words had come out of my mouth.

"Well… thank you Ron," she said quietly. "You look quite smashing yourself." Realizing that she had finished adjusting the tie a couple of seconds ago, she awkwardly jumped back a few feet.

A few somewhat uncomfortable seconds passed during which I looked just about anywhere but into her eyes, afraid that she would see the emotion in my eyes that would give away my true feelings for her. Seven years and I still hadn't quite managed to grow up enough to tell her how I feel. I wondered to myself, not for the first time, if I would ever get the chance, or courage, to tell her.

When I finally snapped out of my reverie and returned to the present situation, I realized that while I had been avoiding her eyes, Hermione had been staring determinedly right at me with a strange look in her eyes. It was as though she was trying to make up her mind about something, and was torn between two sides of an equation.

Suddenly, her brown eyes burned with a fire that I didn't recognize as she seemed to make up her mind and was steeling herself for the path that she had laid for herself.

The next few seconds passed in a blur as a great number of things happened in quick succession. One moment she was several feet from me, and the next thing I knew she had closed that distance in two short steps, reached out and grabbed my tie in a firm grasp and pulled my face down to meet hers in a kiss that surpassed even my wildest dreams.

I chuckled lightly to myself as I looked down and straightened the very familiar emerald green tie. That first kiss was one of my fondest memories and led to many more amazing memories to come. But today was going to be the one that was the most brilliant of them all.

I looked up timidly, hardly daring to believe that I would actually see what should be there. But there she was. Walking toward me down the aisle on her father's arm was my very own angel, an absolute vision in white.

I caught her eye and in that moment I knew that she was thinking of the very same memory that I was, and marveling over all the wonderful events that it had led to. She smiled at me as though we weren't in a crowded room of all our closest friends and family. As though I were the only one she could see. And I knew that she was thinking exactly the same thing I was.

Ties. Maybe, just maybe, they weren't so bad after all.


End file.
